Shop Windows to the Universe

An artist's rendition of the Huygens probe separating from the Cassini spacecraft. Cassini is in the top-center part of the image; Saturn is to the right; Huygens is center-left; and the moon Titan, Huygens' target, is shown in the lower-left of the scene.
Click on image for full size Image courtesy NASA.

Related links:

Huygens probe on its way to TitanNews story originally written on December 30, 2004

NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which is in orbit around Saturn, released the Huygens
probe and sent it on its way to Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The probe, pushed
away from the Cassini "mothership" on December 24, 2004 by springs, will coast
through space for three weeks before starting a 2-1/2 hour descent through
Titan's
atmosphere on January 14, 2005. Huygens
will then land on Titan and may continue to send data for up to 30 minutes
after it touches down on the icy moon.

Cassini and Huygens were launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on October
15, 1997. The Huygens probe, riding "piggyback" on Cassini, has been in "sleep"
mode
throughout most of the seven-year journey to Saturn. Huygens doesn't have a
rocket engine to steer itself, so the probe had to be aimed correctly for its
approach to Titan when Cassini released it. Cassini fired its engines three
days after releasing the probe to change its course and avoid following Huygens
on its plunge into Titan's atmosphere. Cassini will continue to orbit Saturn,
studying the gas giant planet and its rings
and moons, for at least four years.

Huygens, built and operated by the European Space Agency and named after the
17th century
Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, will be "awakened" by an automatic timer
45 minutes before the start of its descent to Titan. The probe will gather
data and images as it descends on parachutes through Titan's thick atmosphere.
Huygens
will
send the data to Cassini, which will then relay the information to scientists
on Earth. Huygens will follow a pre-programmed, automated routine during its
descent, for Saturn is quite far from Earth and radio signals will take more
than an hour to reach us from Cassini at the time of the probe's descent. Cassini
will disappear over the horizon as viewed from the Huygens landing site about
30 minutes after the probe touches down, so we will lose contact with Huygens
then unless its batteries wear out sooner.

Titan is the only moon in our Solar System with a thick atmosphere. Although
Titan is quite cold, the conditions on the moon may be similar to those on
Earth early in our planet's history. Scientists are especially interested in
the complex chemistry of Titan's atmosphere, which includes many organic compounds
and may shed light on Earth's early chemistry before life arose on our home
planet. We aren't yet sure what Titan's
surface is like, so although Huygens
might touch down on solid ground it is also possible it will splash down in
a lake or sea of liquid ethane or methane or it might plunge into a pile of
frozen methane snow!

You might also be interested in:

The Cassini probe began its journey to Saturn on October 15, 1997. It flew by Earth in August, 1999, before heading towards the distant planet. Cassini passed Jupiter in 2000 and then burned towards its...more

Cassini has begun its 2.2 billion-mile journey to Saturn. Cassini was launched on a Titan rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station early in the morning on October 15, 1997. The Cassini probe is one...more

NASA’s rover, named Spirit, has successfully landed and will soon be scouting the surface of Mars for interesting geology! Scientists are interested to know whether the depression where Spirit landed...more

On January 16, 2004, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe announced the cancellation of the final scheduled servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The review board studying the Shuttle Columbia...more

The Cassini spacecraft, en route to Saturn, will zoom past Saturn's odd moon Phoebe on June 11, 2004. Cassini will pass within 2,000 km (1,243 miles) of the moon's surface and should send back images with...more

NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which is in orbit around Saturn, released the Huygens probe and sent it on its way to Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The probe, pushed away from the Cassini "mothership"...more

The robotic Cassini spacecraft flew by Saturn's moon Titan on October 26, 2004. Titan is Saturn's largest moon, and has the thickest atmosphere of any moon in our Solar System. Cassini captured what are...more